Imo Police Locate Kidnappers’ Hideout, Rescue Operation Held Back by IED Threat

The Imo State Police Command has located the forest hideout where suspected kidnappers are holding abducted National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and other victims, Commissioner of Police Audu Garba Bosso has disclosed.

Bosso said security operatives, acting on intelligence and supported by drone surveillance, had succeeded in tracking the abductors to their hideout and establishing the precise coordinates of the camp.

He, however, said the rescue operation had been temporarily constrained by intelligence indicating that the area was heavily mined with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), making any unguarded advance fraught with considerable risk.

Speaking to journalists on the operation, the commissioner said security forces had already penetrated the surrounding area and were intensifying efforts to gain access to the victims without exposing personnel to avoidable danger.

“Yesterday we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location. But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinates showed us where they are,” Bosso said.

According to him, the deployment of drones had given the security forces a clear picture of the abductors’ location, but the reported presence of explosives around the camp had complicated the final stage of the operation.

“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” he said.

Bosso said the security forces were consequently mobilising heavy-duty equipment, including high velocity vehicles, bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, to breach the difficult terrain and facilitate access to the victims.

“We are moving in there with high velocity vehicles. We are moving with bulldozers and APCs to see how we are going to rescue these victims,” he said.

The victims were among passengers abducted after suspected gunmen attacked two buses along the Owerri Onitsha Expressway in Imo State on October 1.

The buses were reportedly conveying prospective corps members from Ibadan to orientation camps in the South East and South South when the attackers struck around the Umunoha axis of the road in Mbaitoli Local Government Area.

The Imo State Police Command had earlier disclosed that 10 victims were rescued at the scene, while efforts continued to ascertain the exact number of passengers who remained in captivity.

The Defence Headquarters subsequently disclosed that 20 passengers were abducted from the two buses, including several prospective corps members, while 10 passengers, including eight identified prospective corps members, were rescued.

It said a joint search and rescue operation involving troops of Operation Udoka, the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services, with support from the Nigerian Air Force, is underway to locate and rescue the remaining victims.

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